Hi Weaponsofmassdisstortion
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being able to sense the impact of what feels like ongoing and deeply challenging disappointment. I know it's easier said than done but try not to be too hard on yourself when it comes to not being able to work out how to manage the disappointment.
Not sure if the following will help but I found that when I redefined 'disappointment' it made things easier to manage in a lot of cases. Of course, some cases will involve complex disappointment and we gotta be kind to ourself in working that out too. When it comes to disappointment, a lot can come down to the 'appointment', to begin with. For example
- I appoint this system as being 'The one that's going to work'
- I appoint myself as 'He/she who's going to be able to manage this challenge easily'
- I appoint that person as being 'The person who's going to make a positive difference to me'
So when the system doesn't work, we can't manage a challenge easily or that person doesn't make any positive difference whatsoever, we're going to feel that. We're going to feel the let down. The question becomes 'Am going to appoint a new system, one that works?', 'Am I going to appoint the right person or the right perspective as being able to help me manage the challenge/s I face?' or 'Am I going to appoint a different person to make a difference to me, instead of appointing the same unreliable person?'. The more we start to get a better feel for what works and what doesn't (what to appoint and what not to appoint), the more intuitive we become. Developing the practice can definitely entail a lot of trial and error that tends to come with experience. In other words, people who've been around longer have had more time with which to gain the experience.
It's so important to keep in mind that highly creative people can be deeply or intensely feeling people. It's typically in their nature. Their ability to feel can be a part of their incredible nature. So, while the average person may not feel disappointment all that much, an intensely feeling person will feel it intensely. How to manage being able to feel or sense in intense ways absolutely requires some self mastery and sometimes a bit of imagination occasionally. While it's proven that a series of long breaths out can help calm the nervous system, imagining breathing out something like dark smoke (representing what's stressing you) can be well worth imagining. This way it feels like you're getting rid of something, instead of just breathing. How to use the imagination, as a sensitive person (who can sense so much), is definitely key to unlocking certain skills and ways of managing. Developing a number of 'go to' harmless self soothing strategies can also be a brilliant way to manage being able to feel so much but it sounds like you're already onto that.🙂
